As it searches for a site for its permanent headquarters, the Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) is considering 10 locations in Worcester, most of them in the city’s newly revitalized downtown core.
The CCC met in executive session on Tuesday morning to discuss the 10 possible sites for an agency headquarters as well as 10 potential sites throughout Boston, Quincy and Malden turned up by a second search, that one focused on identifying a spot for a CCC satellite office in the Boston area. The CCC did not return from executive session to take a vote on Tuesday.
The CCC issued a request for proposals (RFP) in April for just more than 13,000 square feet of office space in Worcester, with a preference for a location that would be accessible by public transportation, and a second RFP for a roughly 5,000-square-foot satellite office within a quarter-mile of an MBTA station. Both RFPs sought 10-year leases for the office space.
According to the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, the potential downtown Worcester locations include Union Station, 370 Main St., 340 Main St., 13 Sudbury St., 10 Chestnut St. and 144 Commercial St., all within walking distance of the commuter rail station. The list of possible locations also includes locations at 8 and 14 New Bond St., where other state agencies already have office space in the city’s Greendale neighborhood. A location at 324 Clark St., near the West Boylston town line, is also under consideration.
“This is a statewide agency and it is important that we operate around the state and we’re expected to be around the state,” Executive Director Shawn Collins said in April when the CCC picked Worcester as its future home. “Having a location really in the central part of the state will allow us to get to every corner of the commonwealth with relative ease and I think also there are cost efficiencies with being out in central Massachusetts.”
The list of potential satellite office locations includes four addresses in Boston, three in Quincy and three in Malden. The Boston possibilities include the Schrafft Center in Charlestown, 960 Massachusetts Ave. in Newmarket Square, 50 Franklin St. in Downtown Crossing and 5 Whittier Place, near Mass. General Hospital, according to DCAMM.
The Quincy possibilities include two spots downtown – 1495 and 1515 Hancock St. – and one location in North Quincy, 108 Myrtle St. All three Malden addresses are in Malden Center – at 6, 94-100 and 157 Pleasant St.
The CCC, which was launched in September 2017, began working out of spare cubicles in the state office building at One Ashburton Place. The commission is now housed in temporary offices – the lease ends May 2019 – at 101 Federal St. in Boston’s Financial District.
